Are South Sudanese the Modern Biblical Zacchaeus Ideologically?
By Jackson Surur:
The holy book (the bible) tells us a famous story about a chief tax collector called Zacchaeus. It stated that Zacchaeus was a short man who during the time Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through; his physical height could not allow him to see Jesus among the crowd who were following Him. So, he quickly made up his mind to run ahead and climb a sycamore-fig tree; so that when Jesus will be passing by, he can easily see Him. Jesus, with Godly power quickly noticed him on the tree and ordered him to climb down. When he nervously did so, Jesus said to him, “today I am going to dine in your house”. The story goes on…. This story gave us important moral lessons as South Sudanese.
Zacchaeus being a chief tax collector had all the elements of power; charisma and above all authority (authority is power that has legal backing). With the power and authority he possessed, he had all the options; either to do the right thing with to bring social transformation to his people or use to it to fleece the people to enrich himself personally. Unfortunately, the bible told us, he chose the latter and went on to become a wealthy person. Zacchaeus with the wealth and the power was not only short physically but also socially, morally and mentally. It took the arrival of Jesus for him to realize his social, moral and mental shortness. Generally, he was shortsighted and social deviant to the common people (the mwatineen) of his time.
Further down the verse, the story ended on a positive note. Zacchaeus gained his sight and went on to become tall socially, morally and mentally; most importantly he declared to pay back those he fleeced in the course of his dealings twofold.
Today, we South Sudanese are the same; most of us don’t see beyond self, tribal and social boundaries. Because we are self and ego-centered, we become socially, morally and mentally dwarfed and short. We are not able to see our fellow citizens suffering beyond ourselves, families, society and tribal boundaries. Instead of rendering services to help others we chose to enrich ourselves. We chose to fight instead of peace; use the resources for social instability instead of social development. Because of shortsightedness, we fail to see the sufferings our citizens (children, women, elders and others) are going through. We simply choose to the most expensive option in terms of life, resources and others, “war.”
Choosing war, one must bear in mind that it has immediate and long term effects that people face and will continue to face long after peace is achieved. The prize of war is always devastating in terms of mineral resources depletion, economic meltdown, human development, environmental destruction and human life; with further effect on social fabric fragmentation, physiological and psychological problems that lives to haunt people for years and possibly extending to the next generation.
War has a dramatic impact on the health of civilian populations. The bombs dropped on the battle front with civilians caught in the areas had horrendous immediate impact, killing thousands. It also had long-term effects on the population. Radiation sickness and birth defects of children were problems experienced long after the buildings destroyed by the bomb were rebuilt.
To finance the war means we have to look for loans from other sisterly countries, use the reserve money or use our mineral resources to earn the badly needed cash. It is clear that South Sudan depends 98% on the petroleum as it main economic course. So much as we choose to continue with the war means depleting all the resources now means we will nothing to the next generation, simply leaving them in absolute poverty.
Frontier Economic, reported that economic and financial costs of the war in South Sudan extending to 2015 and beyond, the economic costs to South Sudan could be as high as US$ 158 billion, and the costs to the regional neighbours could rise to nearly US$ 57 billion. (Source: http://www.frontier-economics.com/publications/south-sudan-cost-war/).
For a proper growth and development of a child, the child must have a good nutrition, a caring caregiver, peers and above go to school. UNICEF asserted that half of the school going age in the Republic of South Sudan are not attending schools, many schools have either been closed, occupied or damaged by internally displaced people or armed groups. More than 800 schools were destroyed, 6,000 or more schools remain operable, but they all lack resources. “Most of the schools have very poor facilities and anywhere else, they wouldn’t even be called schools,” “these are basically trees and a blackboard.
The government of South Sudan and its social partner the United Nations declared famine in some parts of South Sudan sighting low agricultural produce as the proponent of food insecurity across the country, the declaration pity more than 100,000 people in parts of former Unity State, cautioning that the threat is spreading further. However, judging the current scenario, not only that the food insecurity is felt in those declared areas; but in all the states in South Sudan including the Juba the capital, citizens are relegated to food hunting. The prices of food keep changing on daily basis, the meagre resources one has can’t grantee food for the next day.
On the psychological effects, soldiers not only suffer injuries or been killed on the battlefield; but also from the psychological impact of war. Long after the war, veterans possess mental disorders, if not cared for immediately can lead to a state of anxiety disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder, neurosis, psychosis or schizophrenia. This, as a result, can lead to having a chaotic society.
Civilian populations often have to deal with the after effects of war. They include damage to infrastructure such as hospitals and to medical care, often a result of a shortage of doctors. Number of countries that went through same scenario has had to deal with the devastating effects of land mines on the local population. Anna Freud noted that civilians, particularly children, can also suffer the effects of trauma. During the Second World War, having noticed psychoanalytic effects on children, she set up a centre for young war victims called the Hampstead War Nursery where children were given foster care as a result of separation from their parents. In South Sudan, there are kids who lost their parents or caregivers, this means government and its partners are left with a future task of providing foster care for these children.
Much as Poverty is an exceptionally complicated social phenomenon with equally complicated causes, war is believed to be the major cause of poverty. As stated above, war causes resources depletion, economic meltdown, human development, damage to infrastructure such as roads, homes, hospitals and to medical care, often a result of a shortage of doctors hence relegating citizens to live in poverty ; when one is in poverty he/she feel negative, inferior, passive, hopeless, and powerless.
The effects of poverty are serious. Children who grow up in poverty suffer more persistent, frequent, and severe health problems than do children who grow up under better financial circumstances.
Many infants born into poverty have a low birth weight, which is associated with many preventable mental and physical disabilities. Not only are these poor infants more likely to be irritable or sick, they are also more likely to die before their first birthday.
Children raised in poverty tend to miss school more often because of illness. These children also have a much higher rate of accidents than do other children, and they are twice as likely to have impaired vision and hearing, iron deficiency anaemia, and higher than normal levels of lead in the blood, which can impair brain function.
Levels of stress in the family have also been shown to correlate with economic circumstances. Economic studies indicate that luck money leads to poverty; and poverty is associated with violence in families, including child and elder abuse. Poor families experience much more stress than middle?class families. Besides financial uncertainty, these families are more likely to be exposed to series of negative events like illness, depression, eviction, criminal victimization, and family death. Parents who experience hard economic times may become excessively punitive and erratic, issuing demands backed by insults, threats, and corporal punishment.
Homelessness, or extreme poverty, carries with it particularly strong set of risks for families, especially children. Compared to children living in poverty but having homes, homeless children are less likely to receive proper nutrition and immunisation. Hence, they experience more health problems. Homeless women experience higher rates of low?birth?weight babies, miscarriages, and infant mortality, probably due to not having access to adequate prenatal care for their babies. Homeless families experience even greater life stress than other families, including increased disruption in work, school, family relationships, and friendships.
War is proved to have a negative effect on animal resources, as the saying goes, “that if, an army crawls on its stomach.” Then feeding an army often requires hunting local animals, especially larger mammals that often have slower rates of reproduction. Countries with war have increased numbers of poachers seeking meat for soldiers and civilians have had a tragic effect on bush animal populations.
In conclusion we need to move away from the culture of violence as a way of resolving disputes in our country; let us work together in order to deal with conflicts creatively and nonviolently. To prevent continued cycles of violence just take a moment to think about the devastating effects of war on our natural resources, economy, human resources and environment; with further emphasis on social fabric fragmentation, physiological and psychological problems we are going through as well as the negative repercussions on next generation
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